Thoughts

Living very far away from family, deaths in the family did not affect me greatly throughout my childhood. But recently, after my grandmother passed away (who still wasn't extremely close to me, considering I only saw her for weeks at a time several years apart), I started to think a lot about death and scope of human lives. Maybe it was just being older, but the idea of a human no longer being able to think, make decisions, and merely move was very mind-blowing for me. Of course, I've known what death is my whole life. But well...some background info. In Pakistan (and probably nearby countries) instead of having a "viewing" at church people almost always bring the deceased person back to home for a viewing. (This might be slightly off since I've never been to an American or Pakistani funeral, but this is what I'm conjecturing) So to imagine my grandma who was just recently walking around and talking to us on the phone at her home to come back as a lifeless individual is very...unsettling. There isn't a lot that separates me, you, or anyone else from her- our organs and skin and blood is basically identical. But in minutes we can go from this goal-aspiring, life-planning individual to a lifeless corpse. It gives a major perspective, especially for religious individuals, on the purpose of life and the fragility of humans my life and how sometimes we I get so caught up in future planning dreams (especially with university just around the corner) it's easy to overlook things that should be happening every day (on a religious aspect) that are a lot more important than materialistic aspirations.  

Just some thoughts.